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Nancy Magee has pulled ahead of Gary Waddell for the first time since the initial Election Day results were posted, according to election results released on Friday afternoon, June 15, but the county elections office says more than 46,000 ballots still need to be counted.
With 120,275 votes counted in the contest for the San Mateo County Office of Education superintendent post, Magee leads Waddell by 428 votes, or 50.23 percent to 49.77 percent.
Magee has 46,242 votes and Waddell has 45,814.
Jim Irizarry, assistant assessor-county clerk-recorder-chief elections officer, said more totals are to be released on Wednesday, June 20. At that point, Irizarry said, “we anticipate that most, if not all, of the ballots cast” will have been counted. If not one more round of election results will be posted.
Voter turnout in the primary election appears to have been about 42 percent, Irizarry said.
Waddell had led from the time the first vote totals were released at the close of Election Day, but each time more votes are counted the gap between the two candidates has narrowed.
Irizarry said San Mateo County does not have automatic recounts, no matter how close an election. He said the elections code states that within five days following the certification of the election (July 5 for this election), any registered voter may file a written request for recount in any race.
A recount request must specify which candidate it is filed on behalf of and, in the case of a countywide office such as superintendent of schools, should be filed with the county elections office.
The recount starts after notifying candidates and the public, but no later than seven days following receipt of the request, and must continue on weekdays for not less than six hours each day until done, Irizarry said.
Any recount will be conducted in public by a special recount board of four county voters appointed by Mark Church, the county’s assessor-county clerk-recorder-chief elections officer.
The requester has to pay the expenses of a recount. But, if the candidate the recount was done on behalf of is elected, all the money is repaid, Irizarry said.
Both Waddell and Magee work in the San Mateo County Office of Education, Waddell as deputy superintendent and Magee as associate superintendent. Both started campaigning in 2017 to take the job now held by their boss, Anne Campbell, who didn’t run for a third four-year term.
The county school superintendent manages a $90 million budget and a staff of 450 while overseeing the 23 school districts in the county. The office of education says Campbell’s base salary is currently $235,428.
Both candidates live on the Coastside — Waddell in Pacifica and Magee in Half Moon Bay — and both have long tenures in education.
Magee, 58, told The Almanac in an email that she ran “as a passionate advocate for all students, to support our educator workforce, and to ensure students get an excellent education and graduate with relevant skills.”
Waddell, 55, said in an email that he ran “because I have spent my entire career — as a teacher, counselor, principal, deputy superintendent, and statewide curriculum leader — in the service of equity.”
The two candidates each raised more than $100,000 for the contest, campaign finance reports filed on May 24 show. Magee had raised more than $122,000 in cash, non-monetary donations and loans while Waddell had raised more than $115,000. By that date Magee had spent more than $95,000 and Waddell had spent more than $90,000. Both loaned their campaigns a considerable amount of their own money — Waddell $10,000 and Magee $35,000.
Check back for updates or go to the San Mateo County elections office website.
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• See earlier stories:
Update: Race for county schools superintendent coming down to the wire
Waddell and Magee vie for county superintendent of schools job
Spending is high in county schools superintendent race
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